Oscar linder



0. UNDER.

PRINTING PRESS AND LITHOGRAPHING PRESS ROLLER,

APPLICATION min NOV. 20. ms.

1 ,3 1 if? R 3 Patented Oct. 7, 1919.

starts OSCAR- LINDER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO IDEAL ROLLER COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 7, 1919.

I Application filed November 20, 1918. Serial No. 263,257.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OSCAR LINDER,- a citizen of the United States, residin at Chicago, in the county of Cook and tate of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Printing-Press and Lithographing-Press Rollers, of which the followmg is a full,clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification.

This invention relates to printin press and lithographing press rollers an more particularly, to rollers of the kind commonly used on printing presses, lithographing presses, and offset presses for inking the type, form, stone, or etching, or for transferring or distributi the ink from one roller to another, and rom the ink-well or fountain to a roller.

The invention also relates to rollers for moistening the form, etching, or stone in lithographing and offset presses, and for transferring the: water from the reservoir to the form, and for distributing it thereon. This invention likewise relates to rollers for other purposes, such as paper machines, calenders, etc., made from steel, iron or any other material.

Rollers for these purposes have been made of various materials. Such rollers consist generally of a metallic stock, shaft, or core, which is either coated with a resilient material or composition or wrapped with such material. Typical rollers of this type are usually coated with glue composition, vulcanized rubber or vulcanized 011, or covered with flannel, moleskin, leather, et c.. In the operation of the presses rollers of this type function to transfer the ink or water from a well or reservoir to the form and to distribute it uniformly over the whole form, etching, or stone. For this purpose a series or plurality of rollers is generally employed. The customary practice is to interpose a metallic roller between two resilient rollers, some of these rollers, notably the form rollers, being supported mainly in bearings, while theremainder of the rollers rest with their weight partly on the roller underneath. It is extremely important for the proper distribution of the ink or water that the rollers touch each other at all points along their length, and that there are no socautions which have been taken to make these rollers perfectly cylindrical, the rollers frequently do not function to evenly distribute the ink, nor do they have proper contact with each other along their entire length.

I have discovered that the poor results in the distribution of ink frequently obtained in large presses are due not to the original shape of the roller, but to the shape which the roller assumes because of sagging 0r. deflecting when suspended in itsbearings; this being particularly true of the form rollers in the presses. I have likewise discovered that, due to this sagging, the rollers exhibit at and near the end an excess wear which, is. manifested by chipping, tearing, and cracking of the material.

It is the object of this invention to produce a roller for presses of various types, principally printing and 'lithographing presses, in which a uniform con-tact will exist betwen the rollers when suspended in the bearings and in which the evil results due to sagging of the rollers when suspended in the bearings are avoided.

Another object of the invention resides in a improved method for grinding rollers of this type whereby the rollers will have uniformityof contact throughout their entire surface when suspended in the bearings.

A further object of'the invention resides in the production of a roller for use in printing and lithographing presses which is not cylindrical in form.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description, the accompanying illustrations, and the appended claims.

Rollers constructed in accordance with this invention may be made of any of the materials now commonly used, but they differ from the rollers heretofore used in thatthey are not cylindrical but vary in diameter at diflerent points along their length. Rollers constructed in accordance with this invention are either larger in the center than at the ends, or smaller in the center than at the ends, according to the use to which the roller is to be put and the conditions under which it is to operate.

Theinvention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of one form of my improved noncylindrical roller, in which the diameter of the roller gradually increases from each end toward the middle;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of another form of my improved noncylindrical roller in which the diameter of the roller gradually decreases from each end toward the middle;

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatical illustration of the position assumed by the roller illustrated in Fig. 1 when placed in the supporting bearings for said roller, together with the relative position of said roller with the next adjoining contact roller;

Fig. 4 is a similar illustration using a roller of the form illustrated in Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 illustrates in more or less diagrammati'cal form the apparatus utilized forgrinding rollers to the shape illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 6 isan end elevation of the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 5; and

Fig. 7 is an illustration on an enlarged scale of the preferred form of bearing used in the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 5.

The rollers such as illustrated in Figs. 1-4, inclusive, are constructed either of plain metal, solid or hollow, or contain a metallic stock or shaft covered with any kind of composition or material or combination of materials. The rollers are equipped with ex tendingmetallic shaft portions which are supported in bearings and in which the rollers are supported and rotated in the press.

When a long, heavy, cylindrical roller is supported on its ends in a horizontal position and on suitable bearings, the weight of the roller will cause it to sag or deflect in the middle, and, due to this sagging of the roller, poor ink or water distribution will result because of non-uniform contact between the sagging roller supported on the bearings and the roller next adjacent thereto which is supported not on bearings but entirely or partly on the upper peripheral surface ofthe sagging roller.

It will now be evident, inasmuch as the adjacent roller is usually considerably lighter and as it is placed on top of the roller supported in the bearings by virtue of which sagging results, as hereinbefore explained, the weight of the latter roller being carried by the roller supported in the bearings, that be no contact at the middle of the rollers.

Therefore, when ink .or water is to be distributed from the .roller supported in the bearings, this distribution will not take place, or, at best, very imperfectly, at or near the middle of the rollers. Similarly, if, as is generally the case, one of the two rollers is rotated by friction from the other roller, the driving contact is only maintained at or near the end instead of along the entire length, and consequently the wear at the ends will be excessive and cause rapid deterioration at the ends of the rollers and hence shorten the life of the said rollers.

Similarly, if the heavier roller, which is the roller usually supported in the bearings, is placed above the lighter roller, the two rollers will touch principally at or near the middle, due to the sagging of'the heavy roller. I

The roller of the invention ismade of-such form as to compensate for this sagging, and whereby uniform contact for their entire length is maintained between the form roller supported in the bearings and the roller placed either above or below said form roller.

The roller illustrated in Fig. 1 is utilized for a form roller and is given the shape desired when a roller of less sagging is to be placed above the form roller. This roller is preferably-constructed by covering a solid or hollow metallic core 10 secured to protruding shafts 11'and 12 with any composition 13, such as glue, vulcanized rubber, vulptipized oil, flannel, moleskin, leather, or the In a similar manner, theroller illustrated in Fig. 2 comprisesa simple solid or hollow metallic core 1 1 to whichare secured the end shafts 15 and 16 and which is covered with a composition such as 17. Obviously, the difference in dia'meter between the middle and ends of each of the rollers illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 as well as Figs. 3 and 4 is greatly exaggerated for the purpose of illustration. In the actual full size roller the difference in diameter is so slight that it would hardly be perceptible to the casual observer and could only be ascertained by'aotual measurement of the diameter or circumference of the roller at different points along its length. If a roller of the form illustrated Fig. 1 is supported horizontally with its shafts 11 and 12 resting on suitable bearings, such as 18 and 19, diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 3, the upper peripheral edge of the roller will be a straight and horizontal line and will be approximately parallel to a straight imaginary line 2020 drawn through the center of the bearings.

It will now be apparent that if another roller 22 supported on the bearings 18 and 1 as illustrated in Fig. 3, the two rollers will touch evenly along their entire length, and that consequently the ink and the drive will be distributed evenly over their entire length. The roller 21 ordinarily does not sag so much as the roller 22, on account of being larger in diameter ,and, lighter in weight than the roller 22, and said roller 21 is usually supported on adjustable bearings, such as 23 and 24, as diagrammatically illustrated in said figure, the details of which mechanism need not .be specifically described herein, as such mechanisms are well known to those skilled in the art of lithographing and printing presses.

When the roller 22 0f the non-cylindrical type is supported in the bearings 18 and 19, as illustrated in Fig. 3, andin which the upper peripheral edge represents a straight line, approximately parallel to a straight imaginary line 2020 drawn through the center of the bearings, then the extreme lower peripheral edge of the roller will represent a curved line. This curvature of the lower peripheral edge of the roller is not objectionable, however, for two reasons: First, in many cases the roller when used as a form roller is not placed in a direct vertical position above the form, but is positioned at an angle in such a manner that the point of contact between the printing or lithographing plate is from 10 to 90 degrees above the lower peripheral edge of said roller, along which outline this curvature is obviously very slight; and, second, the roller 22 is generally driven by friction of the roller above it and the form, type, or etching which is to be inked, and this friction drive tends to neutralize this curvature.

Fig. 4 shows a form roller 26 of the type illustrated in Fig. 2, with its shafts 27 and 28 positioned in bearings 29 and 30, respectively. In this figure the form or heavy composition roller 26 is placed above the lighter roller 31, the shafts 32 and 33 thereof being supported on the adjustable bearings 34 and 35, respectively. As the roller 26 is ground with a longitudinal concave surface. the concavity thereof being determined by the amount of sag to which the roller is subjected when supported on the bearings 29 and 30, so asto make the extreme lower peripheral edge of the roller 26 a straight line approximately parallel to a straight imaginary line 36'36 drawn through the center of the bearings 2930,' it follows that the two rollers 31 and 26 will touch evenly along their entire length, and, consequently the ink and the drive Will be evenly distributed over their entlre length. As the roller 31 is very much lighter than the roller26, supporting the same on theadjustable bearings 34 and 35 will not subject the said roller to any appreciable sag,

'the bearings.

and, hence, the extreme upper peripheral edge thereof will represent a straight hori zontal line approximately parallel to the imaginary line 36, the same as the extreme lower eripheral edge of the roller 26.

The amount of sag to which rollers such as 31 and 26 will be subjected when horizontally suspended between bearings. will depend obviously on the weight of the rollers, the distance between the bearings, the material from which the stock or centerpiere is made, and various other factors. increases naturally with the length and weight of the roller but is seldom greater than one-eighth of an inch and generally very muclrless than that with the ordinary commercial rollers used in printing and lithographing presses. Consequently, in rollers manufactured in accordance with this invention, the diameter of the middle of the roller is different from the diameter at the ends of the roller by one-quarter of an inch or less, this difference being a gradual taper from ends to middle of the roller.

From the foregoing description it will be evident that the diameter of 'the middle of the roller will be either larger or smaller as compared with the diameter of the ends of the rollers, depending upon whether the ad jacent roller is placed above or below the form roller. The difference in diameter between the ends and the middle of the roller is not a definite or fixed figure. but varies according to the material of which the roller is constructed, its size and weight; and, consequently, this invention is not restricted to any fixed figure as to the difference in diam eter between the ends and the middle of the rollers. In some instances. obviously, this difference may be increased over the one-eighth inch hereinbefore recited. and in others it may be very largely decreased, according to the conditions under which the rollers work in practice.

The uneven contact between form. rollers and adjacent rollers has long been a source of much trouble and loss, but it has apparently never been realized that the main source of practically all the trouble was the sagging of the rollers when suspended in In order toovercome the trouble of imperfect contact between rollers it has been customary heretofore to set the rollers very tight and. to use very resilient material, so that, in spite of the sagging. the roller adjacent to the form roller. and driyen thereby would be impressed into the resilient material of the form roller at the end until the two roller touched at the center. This procedure, obviously, did not give the best results, because the ink distribution was different at or near the ends to what it was at or near the middle, and it likewise caused excessive wear at or near the ends. For this reason, also, vulcanized rubber and The sag as an electric. motor.

oil rollers did not meet with the desired commercial success. In some instances,--for example, in the case of lithographic leather rollers, it has heretofore been necessary to give the rollers a long preliminary run here they were actually used, to accomplish what is nerally known in the art as work ing in th the press until the rollers assumed a shape which was suitable. This operation takes considerable time, never being accomplished in less than half a day. 'All of the difiiculties and drawbacks just referred to are eliminated with rollers which are given an orig inal convex or concave shape, of the types illustratedin Figs. 1 and 2, respectively.

as 43 and 44. The bearings 43 and 44 are i of the type illustrated in Fig. 7 being fitted with a V-shaped slot 45 in whichthe protruding shaft 46 of the roller rests. The bearings 43 and 44 are so positioned in the bed 40 that the center of the shaft 46 in each of said bearings will lie substantially in the same horizontal plane. The lathe is fitted with a head-stock 48150 which I prefer to secure a dog 49 by means of which the shaft 46 of the roller is driven. The spindle of the head-stock is driven by a pulley '50 and a belt 51, or any other suitable means, such Secured to an automatically-driven horizontal carriage 52 on the front of the lathe is a. grinding-wheel 53 which may be'driven by any suitable means, preferably by an electric motor, such as 54. The roller 55 to be ground isplaced in the lathe with the shaft 46 in the bearings 43 and 44, one end of the shaft being connected to the spindle of the headstock by means of the dog 49. v The roller is now rotated in the lathe at a speed which corresponds substantially to the speed attained by the roller in actual service, whereby the roller will assume a sag substantially equal to that which it ordinarily assumes in service. The grinding or abrasion Wheel 53 is now rotated and moved longitudinally along the entire length of the roller, the grinding operation being performed on the upper periphery of the roller if a convex-shaped roller is desired,

I and on the extreme lower periphery of the roller ifa concave-shaped roller is desired. Obviously, in thusgriridingthe roller while it is suspended in the bearings, when the e rollers, that is, to run them on line drawn .through the center of the bearings on which the roller is supported. However, when the roller is removed from the bearings, the distortion due to sagging is removed and the roller will assume either a convex or a concave form, depending upon the mannerin which it is ground.

If it is desired to grind the roller so that only a part of the sagging is compensated for the grinding-wheel 53 ls not set directly above or directlybelow the roller, but at an angle of from 0 to 90 from the vertical top position or the lower position. If the grinding-wheel isset at 90 the roller will be perfectly cylindrical and the form thereof will gradually change from the cylindriby either decreasin or increasing the sag: ging by applying eit er an upward or downward force to the roller at the middle or near both of the ends between the bearings. The amount of the force that is to be thus a plied can be adjusted so as to obtain any"esired degree of deviation.

It will be obvieiis that instead of grind.- ing any other desired method for truing the roller may be used, such as, for example, cutting with a tool, milling cutter, etc.

It has been generally recognized in the trade that rollers composed of either rubber or vulcanized oil would give the most, satisfactory results if these rollers could be constructed' so that proper contact along the entire length could be obtained. However, due to the difiiculties encountered because of im-' perfect contact and the consequent poor ink and water distribution, rollers constructed of rubber or vulcanized oil have not been very extensively used. Such rollers; when ground, have always been ground in' the customary manner, with'the grinding tool' at the side of the roller, and have therefore been cylindrical.

With rollers. constructed in accordance with this invention, in which the cylindrical shape of the roller'is departed from and the rollers .are given either a convex or a concave shape, as hereinbefore described, the operate in difliculties' due to imperfect contact are su stantially eliminated, thereby removing the one inherent objection to the use of rollers composed. of rubber or vulcanized oil for printing and lithographing presses.

Obviously, the invention is not limited to the specific form herein illustrated and described, but it capable of certain variations and other applications within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the following claims.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates:

1. A roller which is characterized by a gradual change in the diameter of the roller from the middle thereof toward the ends to compensate for the natural sag in the roller when suspended at its ends.

2. A roller for printing and lithographing presses and similar purposes, characterized in that it is larger in diameter at the middle than at the ends to compensate for the natural sag in the roller when suspended at its ends.

3. A roller for printing and lithographing presses and similar purposes characterized by the convexity of its longitudinal peripheral outline to compensate for the natural sag in the roller when suspended at its ends.

A. A roller for the purposes outlined which is barrel-shaped to compensate for 7. A roller of vulcanized material for the purposes described, the cross-sectional surface of which is larger at themiddle than at the ends to compensate-forthe natural sag in the roller when suspended at its ends.

8. A roller for the purposes described having a peripheral shape to compensate for the sagging of the rollers due to suspension at the ends.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

OSCAR UNDER. 

